Category: Furniture For Your House

Simple Tips And Tricks To Repair Your Own Leather Furniture

If you have a piece of leather furniture that has damage, such as a scratch or cut, you can easily repair it yourself instead of taking it to a professional furniture repair shop, saving you valuable time and money. But, if you don’t care to undertake the task, you should contact the best leather repair Houston has to offer. Their prices are more than fair and their work is excellent.

There are lots of things you can handle on your own to get your leather chair looking great again, using items you can find around your home. In other cases, you can buy an inexpensive kit that has everything you need. For the best results, use a repair method that is properly suited to the specific type of damage present in the leather.

Scratches

Leather can become scratched quite easily, and looks very unsightly when left unrepaired. Fortunately, most minor scratches are quite easy to repair.

Sometimes simply rubbing a bit of olive or orange oil into the surface surrounding and including the scratch is sufficient to get rid of it. With both substances, all you have to do is buff lightly in a circular motion using a damp cloth. It has the added benefit of conditioning your leather, so it is beneficial even to areas that are not scratched.

If rubbing oil into the scratch does not work, try using neutrally colored shoe polish. Rub it into the area, then apply a soap that is vegetable-based. This is especially useful on leather that is dark brown in color, as you can mask the scratch using a little bit of furniture polish in the same dark brown color.

Some leathers may react differently depending on how sensitive or treated they are. If you have worries of your leather furniture being too delicate or don’t want to risk making the problem worse, start off with a little bit of water on a damp cloth, to begin with. Then, if necessary, test the other solutions on a small and inconspicuous spot on the piece to ensure the polish or oil won’t damage the surface of the leather.

Cuts

If your leather has a cut you want to repair, you will need a circular-shaped under patch to repair your leather seat. The shape makes it easy to slide the patch beneath the cut. You can make your job even easier by using a patch that comes pre-coated with a heat-activated glue already applied.

If the leather repair compound you are using is low-cure, smooth it across the cut, then use a heat gun to heat the area and activate the cure. Make sure you don’t hold the heat gun too close to the area you want to repair. This will cure the compound without risking burning or shrinking the leather.

To finish your repair, look for a dye that matches your leather. Apply a small amount of it on top of the cut along with some grip base and blend. Then blend the repair into the rest of the leather until it is no longer apparent. A hairdryer can be used to dry the repair.

Both glues and dyes mentioned here can be a little bit messy to work with, and some are harmful. Always read the manufacturers information that comes with the material. Wear protective gloves on your hands to keep them safe, and read all warning labels included on the product to find out if you need to take any other safety precautions.

Abrasions

Abrasions can be either tricky to repair, or very easy, depending on their size and severity. Small enough abrasions don’t even really damage the leather. Sometimes they can be buffed out leaving no trace that the leather was ever damaged, to begin with.

Spray the area around and including the abrasion with a bit of water. Then get a small bit of 1,000 grit sandpaper. Sand the area of the abrasion with a very light touch until the area is smoothed over. In some cases, such as dark leather or large abrasions, you may need to re-dye the area after the abrasion is removed.

Sand very slowly, stopping often to check on the state of the leather surface. If the damage is not severe, the sandpaper doesn’t provide a great deal of resistance in your hand. This can make it tricky to know by touch when exactly you should stop sanding.

Cracks

Leather furniture will often suffer from cracks over time if it isn’t properly maintained. Unfortunately, the only way to completely repair leather that has cracked is to replace it in the area affected. However, you can make the cracks less apparent and unsightly on your own by giving the leather a good cleaning and a bit of recoloring. It won’t get rid of the cracks, but it can help hide them from view. This will not be a repair for long-term restoration but can serve as a short fix until you can get the leather in the area replaced.